Thursday, 20 June 2013

US House of Representatives vote for 20 week abortion limit raises the issue again for the UK

The
Republican-controlled US House of Representatives has passed a bill
that would reduce late abortions.

The plan to restrict terminations to the first 20 weeks
after conception was approved by 228 votes to 196, largely along party lines.

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which was
based on research showing that the unborn child can experience pain by at least
20 weeks gestation, marks the first time that the United States’ Congress have voted
to give affirmative protection to unborn children.

The debate followed polls showing that 64% of the American
public would support legislation prohibiting abortion after 20 weeks (more
detail is in Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues article).

But the bill has no chance of becoming law as Democrats control
the Senate and the White House has threatened a veto.

Most US states allow abortions to when a baby becomes viable
outside the womb, considered to be some 24 weeks.

The Republican leadership pressed ahead with the abortion
bill after the case of Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortion doctor who was
recently sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of killing three
babies delivered alive.

There has also been a
lot of support for lowering the upper limit amongst UK politicians.

Nearly two thirds of the British public and more than three-quarters of women
support a reduction in the 24-week upper age limit. 76% of the public think
that aborting a baby at six months is cruel. Furthermore a
2007 poll by Marie Stopes International found that two thirds of GPs
wanted a reduction from 24 weeks.

Why has public opinion changed on late abortion? There are five
main reasons: 4D ultrasound, babies surviving below 24 weeks, stories of
babies born alive after abortion, fetal sentience, and European precedent.

We
have all seen Professor Stuart Campbell's high
resolution 4D ultrasound images of babies 'walking’, swallowing,
coughing, hiccupping from 12 weeks gestation and experienced how mothers bond
emotionally to their babies as a result of these scans. We have also seen
photographs of babies alive in the womb at 20 weeks (left).

The public also know about individual high profile cases like Manchester'sMillie
McDonagh, born after a 22-week pregnancy and the world's most premature
baby, Amillia
Taylor, who was born a week younger in the US. Experts may argue about
survival figures and about comparisons between population-based studies like
EPICure and those from top neonatal units but the fact remains that some babies
do actually survive below 24 weeks.

Stories of babies born
alive after failed abortions are also not uncommon. In a 2007 West
Midlands study of 3,189 cases of termination for fetal anomaly, 102 (3.2%)
babies were born alive. This included 65.7% of those between 20 and 24 weeks.
Accounts such as these understandably upset people.

And then there is the question of whether fetuses feel pain. The general public
intuitively concludes that they do when they hear that from 16 weeks babies
will recoil from a noxious stimulus in the womb and that premature babies born
earlier than 24 weeks, if stabbed in the heel with a needle, will withdraw and
cry. The RCOG wheels out its experts to tell us that babies below 24 weeks do
not have the neurological apparatus to sense pain but fail to tell us that this
is a controversial view not shared by other
experts who regard it as being based on an outdated understanding of
physiology.

Which of us, honestly, can imagine telling the mother who feels her baby kick
at 20 weeks that it is not a sentient being?

Finally, Britain is out of touch with most of Europe in this matter. Most
countries in the EU, 16 out of 27, have a gestational limit of 12 weeks or
less. These include Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium and
Austria plus most countries in Eastern and Central Europe who once had far more
liberal laws. At 24 weeks Britain is up there with former Soviet States
Lithuania and Latvia.

In 2010 there were 792 disabled babies and 1,936 able-bodied babies aborted in
Britain between 20 and 24 weeks. Every single one of the latter group was
aborted under ground C of the Abortion Act, which in 98% of cases means
protecting the mental health of the mother.

Lowering the abortion limit to 20 weeks for able-bodied babies (as Miller and
many other MPs would support) would give more legal protection to about 2,000
babies a year; just 1% of the total. It would put clear blue water between the
upper abortion limit and the lower threshold of viability and it also would
show that parliament is beginning to listen.

Of course it would also raise the question of whether we should be doing the
same for disabled babies, who can currently be aborted up until the moment of
birth, a question evaluated by a recent parliamentary inquiry which is due to
report soon.

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Kiwi, Christian and Medical

This blog deals mainly with matters at the interface of Christianity and Medicine. But I do also diverge into other subjects - especially New Zealand, rugby, economics, developing world, politics and topics of general Christian and/or medical interest. The opinions expressed here are mine and may not necessarily reflect the views of my employer or anyone else associated with me.

About Me

I am CEO of Christian Medical Fellowship, a UK-based organisation with 4,500 UK doctors and 1,000 medical students as members. The opinions expressed here however are mine, and may not necessarily reflect the views of CMF or anyone else associated with me.